Posted by Hans Koenig on August 18, 1998 at 11:23:51:

In Reply to: Re: Intranet design to induce a new culture in which Knowledge can thrive posted by Robert Benjamin on August 15, 1998 at 14:48:21:

Hi Robert,

Thank you for your thought provoking reply to my message. The question, in my opinion, is not how technology can manipulate human behaviour, but how humans can use and manipulate existing and future technology to create a new culture.

I totally agree, that by simply putting tons of information on the Intranet or even worse pressing people to use technology , which apparently seems to have superiority to man in many organisations, will have adverse effects on KM initiatives. As you mentioned, employees will decide themselves what message to look at. In the same way they will use only technologies, that make sense to them. (see different work groups in the often cited BP case study)

However, I also believe, that Intranets have great potential if they are designed in a way, which doesn't manipulate or intent to manipulate human behaviour. Here, the emphasis is not on technology but on the "physical" design of the virtual environment, the user-interface. The big question is how design an environment in which knowledge is created, communicated and capitalised.

Many examples, although not on Intranets, but on the big brother Internet offer some interesting insights. Although companies such as Geocities and Amazon still fail to make the big buck, they achieved to offer platforms on which people communicate, share and exchange ideas and knowledge through discussion forums or neighbourhoods etc. There, new cultures emerge daily. This is, what is of interest to KM practioneers.

The key factor for this success seems to be to leave the evolving community on its own. This implies to trust the people participating as members. Let the community (in our case the employees of an organisation) set its standards, language, topics it talks about and finally you will have a totally different culture. Do you agree?

I hope it became clearer, that I understand the role of technology as not being a role of control or manipulation, but a role of enabling.

Concerning your afterthought, I totally agree. Let's get rid of all our people and "take" new ones and "indotrinate" them into company culture. As knowledge workers, we wouldn't have to think at all anymore.

A warm welcome to the Brave New World!

Best regards Hans

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Follow Ups:

• Re: Intranet design to induce a new culture in which Knowledge can thrive Robert Benjamin 04:38:12 8/20/98 (5)
  • Re: Intranet design to induce a new culture in which Knowledge can thrive Jules Delambre 17:31:31 9/10/98 (4)
    • On Effectiveness of 'Sales Hype' vs 'Marketing Concept' Dr. Yogesh Malhotra 08:15:46 9/12/98 (0)
    • On Effectiveness of 'Sales Hype' vs 'Marketing Concept' Dr. Yogesh Malhotra 08:11:20 9/12/98 (0)
    • Re: Intranet design to induce a new culture in which Knowledge can thrive Robert Benjamin 10:11:08 9/11/98 (0)
    • Re: Intranet design to induce a new culture in which Knowledge can thrive Robert Benjamin 10:04:31 9/11/98 (0)

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